Chapter 127

Chapter 127

The Fipellion master had long since decided that he could no longer allow his nephew to roam about unchecked. Thus, he had become far more determined to make Orka attend the upcoming gathering in Yggdrasil.

Pandora’s assignment was to somehow get her cousin into good enough shape to make the trip. Normally, she would have protested, but she couldn’t dare since she was at least partially responsible for the current state he was in. Having been expelled from the Blue fortress for misconduct had been so mortifying that just recalling the disgrace made her want to kick herself.

Thus, their clan master found it most fitting to entrust her with making Orka act accordingly. To say that no one else in their family envied her would be an absurd understatement. As if he had finally registered what she had said, he looked toward Pandora.

“‘Yggdrasil’?”

“I already told you yesterday! Weren’t you listening?!” His eyes flashed as if something had suddenly occurred to him. “Wait! Do you have the list of attendees, Cuz?”

For a moment, she thought she might have caught something manic in his eyes which worried her. “Why would I?”

“Then do you think uncle will?”

He suddenly hopped down from the window ledge as if the wind had abruptly returned to his sails. After carelessly setting down the wine bottle, he rushed out and headed toward the White Master’s chambers.

He moved as if sailing along on clear blue waters that resembled his long, blue hair, which flitted behind him like the tail of a bluebird. Pandora could do nothing but watch with mixed emotions as her younger cousin disappeared from his room.

Should I be... happy that he snapped out of his slump without me having to do much work, or...? She pondered over whether the turn of events had been a blessing or a curse as she left to return to her own room. However, the creeping sensation of uneasiness continued to creep up her spine. Thus, she repeatedly stopped to glance back in Orka’s direction with doubt in her gaze.

The Hostage, the Princess, and the Devil

The journey from the Gold lands to the Blue territory gave me enough time to recover my sense of inner peace. Although some of Nix’s injuries had been quite serious, they were nearly all healed thanks to Cassis’ ministrations. Even his nearly severed hand and bloody left eye socket had pretty much recovered.

Of course, his violet eyeball was long gone.

Cassis had helped that infernal puppet so much that there was almost no sign he had been injured at all. Quite frankly, I thought it was more than enough that we had allowed him to live at all. I knew Cassis’ efforts were actually for my benefit since Nix was still my brother in terms of appearance.

From the moment we arrived at the Pedelian fortress, he immediately took care of unloading our captive himself instead of ordering Isidore or one of the horsemen to do it. He threw the puppet over his shoulder just as unceremoniously as he had back at the Gold manor.

“Brother! Roxana!” Sylvia came running toward us at full speed. “I’ve been waiting since morning for your arrival. I can’t believe you’re only now arri— Huh?”

Her eyes became as round as saucers upon realizing that the mass dangling from her brother’s shoulder appeared to be a person. Although the majority of his injuries had indeed healed, there were still bloody spatters from our fight all over his clothes.

Thankfully Cassis had taken special care to rid me of mine, so there wasn’t a drop of red to be seen on my gown. The courtesy he had extended in dealing with Nix as much as he did had understandably stopped at making sure the puppet would survive until the trial in Yggdrasil.

I’m sure that if he had seen fit to, he could have easily removed the blood stains, but since he hadn’t, I supposed his ragged appearance wouldn’t bear much weight on whether others found fault with us. On top of that, it was a clear sign that Cassis wasn’t trying to deal with Nix any longer than he absolutely needed to.

“Wh-Who is that? What happened to him? And, Roxana, why is your appearance so disheveled?!”

Her rapid-fire questioning came at us like a hailstorm. I had covered myself with Cassis’ cloak, but in hindsight, it wasn’t large enough to conceal every tatter on my dress. I certainly hadn’t expected anyone to notice the few stray hairs that had been lost to Nix’s dagger, but I was sorely mistaken.

“I’m fine, Sylvia. I’m not hurt at all.” I recognized the need to allay her worries as soon as possible before offering an explanation about Nix. “As for hi—”

“Ugh...”

As if on cue, a low groan interrupted me. From atop Cassis’ shoulder, Nix began to stir. We both simultaneously turned in his direction to watch what he might do after finally coming to his senses.

“What... the...?”

He blinked slowly in an effort to regain his focus, then began to squirm about. The action didn’t do him much good though since he was still bound from head to toe. Then in an instant, his eyes flew wide open as if he had only just realized something was terribly wrong with his predicament.

“Oh my!” Sylvia took a sharp breath as she stepped back. Her reaction was perfectly understandable considering Nix looked more like a zombie than a man at that point—what with the blood stains, the missing eye, and his remaining right eye glittering with madness.

“What the hell’s going on?! Where the hell am I?! Where have you brought me?!”

I hadn’t realized how much I loved not hearing that high-pitched, villainous voice over the past few days. Despite his continued writhing and hollering, he could not budge from his perch since Cassis was holding him rather tightly. But that didn’t detract from the fact that he was being an absolute nuisance. As he continued to flop up and down, I imagined that must be how a shrimp might wriggle about as it was being lowered into hot oil. The entire scene was like tossing ashes over what little fond memory I still had of Achille, which soured my mood considerably.

“Oh, will you shut up? Or rather, why don’t you go back to sleep until I’m ready to deal with you?” I said without a degree of warmth in my voice, then struck him in the very vital point that I knew would make him faint.

Isidore began to mutter under his breath from behind his leader. “I see that old saying rings true about couples growing to resemble one another...”

I hadn’t understood at the time what he had meant, but Cassis seemed to catch on almost immediately and raised an eyebrow at his brown-haired lieutenant. It was the sort of look that suggested he didn’t find Isidore’s comment all that amusing.

“I think we should have him locked up before he tries to act out again.”

“Very well. I’ll see that he gets taken to the dungeons as we discussed yesterday.”

Sylvia remained stunned in shock as her brother and I finalized what we would do with Nix. She stared at me so pointedly that I wondered what might be going through her mind, but then I realized it was likely due to her never seeing how harsh I could be until that moment. Even when Pandora had acted out, Sylvia had never seen my fierce and violent side before. I was preparing an explanation for my harsh demeanor, but then...

“Do you think... I could call you big sis from now on?”

...She went and said something wholly unexpected. I won’t lie. I was taken aback by her question since it was both so out of the blue, and also because it sounded as if she already thought of me as her sister-in-law. Her golden irises seemed to shimmer even more brightly under the sunlight.

“I’d like to call you big sis. Please let me.”

My silence seemed to make her feel the need to beg. Meanwhile, Cassis stood at my side eyeing his sister with a mysterious expression. I quickly returned my attention to her lest she become even more desperate.

“But of course. You can call me whatever you like, Sylvia.”

Her face beamed with pure delight. “Oh, big sis, I’m so happy! We’ll be like real sisters from now on!”

I wasn’t sure how to react or feel at seeing how happy such a trivial thing had made her. Not much time had passed since we entered the Blue grounds, so Roussel and Jeanne’s arrival was almost immediately on the heels of their daughter’s.

“I see you’ve returned to us safely.”

“Yes, Father. We’ve only just arrived.”

Then a small frown formed on the Blue Master’s face as he glanced back and forth between us and Nix’s unconscious form. “I take it there was a bit of trouble in Vertium.”

His wife hadn’t been able to find the words at first, but upon hearing her husband’s hypothesis, she finally found the words to express the slightly troubled look on her face. “You two aren’t hurt, are you?”

“No, madame, we’re both all right. Thank you for your concern.”

Since her eyes were glued to me rather than her son, I felt compelled to speak on our behalf.

“So then... who is that man?” Roussel’s attention had hardly shifted from the suspicious, unconscious figure.

“I sense something odd about him.” Cassis was quick to answer his father’s question.

“Yes, he is Noel Vertium’s puppet. However, he was made from the flesh of a real person. I can explain everything in more detail once we’re inside.”

The Blue Master’s expression instantly stiffened after his son’s brief explanation.

“A puppet... made from human flesh?”